Ozobot a tiny robot designed for use on a tablet, was on show at CES 2014 and is heading for a Kickstarter campaign sometime this week.

Ozobot (Credit: Amanda Kooser – CNET)

Alongside the line following sensors, the Ozobot is able to color and screen flashes, allowing more features to be implemented in applications running on a tablet. It’s able to run from a screen onto a table-top given a line to follow (it’ll need to be the same level as the screen though, so you might need to bodge the surfaces to be level).

The Ozobot is currently not for sale and while it’s being displayed at CES, it is however up for a Kickstarter campaign within the coming week with a goal of $100,000. Amanda Kooser over at CNET mentions that while they have some minor kinks with calibrations of screen brightness, the demos available for the 4 demo applications being shown were “surprisingly well for a company at this stage of production.”

These tiny robots seem like an ideal stepping off point for younger folk interested in robotics. Learning how simple algorithms such as line following work and sparking an interest in the field. We look forward to seeing how these little guys fair through the Kickstarter campaign and in the future.